In the mounting configuration, the lateral portions of the tyre, called “beads”, abut against the containment flanges.
An air chamber can be inserted in the tyre or, in case of “tubeless” tyres, pressurized air can be introduced directly.
Tyre-changing machines are currently employed to perform the fitting and removal operations of tyres onto and from the relative rims.
They allow to remove the tyre from its rim, after bead breaking, e.g. to perform maintenance or replacement jobs on the air chamber, the rim and/or the tyre itself, and then to mount it again, or place a new one.
Tyre-changing machines have a tool to pull the tyre off the rim, and one to break the beads of the tyre before removing.
Traditional tyre-changing machines, moreover, are more and more often equipped with a wheel lifting device which allows to lift the wheel after the bead breaking stage and to load it on a centering device the machine is provided with.
This aims at reducing the operator's physical effort and increasing the ergonomics of everyday work and hourly efficiency.
The lifting device is used, even after fitting, in order to release the wheel from the tyre-changing machine
At present there are different types of side lifting device applied on tyre-changing machines
The device is essentially positioned on one side of the machine and is driven independently by a pneumatic cylinder connected to the lifter's frame.
These solutions have several drawbacks including the fact that:                the device is operated using one or two pneumatic cylinders activated by a pneumatic pedal. This construction is expensive and complicated;        the operator activates the pedal uncomfortably and employing a long time, since he/she has to change his/her position after bead breaking and/or after the fitting/removal operation is completed;        the operator must manually move the wheel to put it on the lifting device.        